An Astronaut who has moondust allergy

Web Desk: On December 1972, Apollo astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison ‘Jack’ Schmitt had just finished a successful survey of the Valley of Taurus Littraw, a spot on the southeastern coast of the Moon’s Sea of Serenity. When they returned, they found their spacesuits caked in moondust.

One of their astronauts, named Schmitt began to sneeze as he removed his helmet. His eyes reddened, throat itched and sinuses clogged. Basically, he got allergic to the Moon.

-Mental Floss

The Moon dust gummed up the joints of his suit so badly that he had trouble moving his arms and it also chewed up his footwear. He quoted, “A lot of irritation to my sinuses and nostrils soon after taking the helmet off, the dust really bothered my eyes and throat. I was tasting it and eating it.”

Director of the Planetary Geosciences Institute, Larry Taylor said, “Of all the difficulties involved with putting a man to the Moon, the major issue the Apollo astronauts pointed out was dust, dust, dust.”

The astronauts also pointed that the dust particles had covered everything and when we took off our helmets, we was almost blinded.”

Apollo mission is very valuable, as it collected 17 more rock samples than any other mission. It also discovered 4.2-billion-year-old hunk of rubble called ‘Troctolite 76535’ that later helped to reveal the secrets of the Moon’s magnetic field. Schmitt discovered bright orange volcano glass beats and also provided evidence that it contained water.

On return, they took a photo of Earth that is considered as one of the most iconic photographs of our land.

Apparently, Moondust are soft and pillowy but in actual they are sharp and abrasive. As there is no wind or moving water on the Moon’s surface, the moondust never erodes. On inhalation of these finely powdered glass, it causes huge health hazards, a deep breath could lead it to lungs and pierce the alveolar sacs and ducts, as a result it cause stone-grinder’s disease or silicosis, a mortal condition that usually kills coal miners.